


The Final Piece

by MarvelMaven



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Pining, Solas Being Solas (Dragon Age)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:34:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26109523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarvelMaven/pseuds/MarvelMaven
Summary: Ashling Lavellan faces her last night before she plans to take on the fate of Thedas and all she wants is to spend it with Solas.
Relationships: Dalish (Dragon Age: Inquisition)/Solas, Female Inquisitor/Solas (Dragon Age), Female Lavellan/Solas, Inquisitor/Solas (Dragon Age), Lavellan & Solas, Solas & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	The Final Piece

The Final Piece

The halls were darkened but for the single candle she carried, casting eerie shadows as she made her way up towards the small the room overlooking the garden. Skyhold had never felt so lonely as it did tonight, the tavern was empty by now, and while she was sure she wasn’t the only one having a restless night’s sleep, she was the only one who had spent the better part of an hour walking the battlements. In a way she was grateful to be out here alone, no one would see her weakness, or her fear.

Tomorrow might be her last. After losing so much of her life and her future already, she didn’t see the point in wasting the rest of it trying, in vain, to sleep. 

Solas treated sleep as a friend waiting to greet you at the end of the day, but for Ashling there was nothing but nightmares and bad memories. If the crazed darkspawn magister didn’t kill her, she still had a red lyrium dragon to face, and the anchor to claim her life if the others failed in it's place. The fade would not be kind to her on this night. She wandered the fortress with her blanket wrapped around her shoulders to keep the chill at bay, if only it worked to keep it from her mind as well as her body. 

It was the third time she had walked this section of stone, but each time she turned back and looped around before getting close enough to be spotted lingering, should anyone happen to spot her flame in the dark.

“He is afraid, so he must hide himself from you. It aches, a gnawing that won’t stop.”

“Cole, You startled me,” She jumped slightly, pressing her free hand over her heart, seeing the figure emerge from the shadows to walk along the ledge. “Shouldn’t you be asleep like everyone else?”

“You want to go to him, to make him understand, you want him to make you feel brave.”

The spirit in the shape of a boy perched on the edge of the stones, looking at her with the intense stare he often wore on when he tried to guide her feelings.

“I’m sorry if my feelings are too loud for you tonight, but we both know it won’t do any good for me to act on them.”

“He wants you too, he is afraid you will hate him, he sees who you are, and knows you cannot forgive him.”

Her companion vanished then, leaving her alone with the mountain breeze that took her candlelight as it passed by. A veil of cloud trailing overhead revealed the moon at last, full and bright and beautiful staring down at her. She heard distant wolves, reminding her of those lost days in the mountain passes when she was truly alone, surely she could have perished in the cold just as easily and this would have never come to pass. She had been braver then, fueled by a fire that could only be lit with the desire to see the next day. It was easier when it was just her life, at the beginning, when she closed the breech and celebrated a victory that was too short. Now there were so many more, so many that she had grown to love and care for, so many that were her home, her world. Somehow the fate of Thedas, the lives of everyone she would never have a name for, the entire world seemed much larger now and it was all dependent on the outcome of her survival. A thought that should have terrified her but was insignificant to the idea of losing those closest. 

She knew each of them had joined her knowing the risks and willing to gamble- and sometimes coming very near to death, but this was different. Her companions had become more than friends, this was her family now, and she had to protect them. Not because she was The Herald, or because she was special, but because she had chosen them too. Each one of them called a memory to her mind, something that made her smile, or made her strong. And the idea that all of it could be over, was heartbreaking. Her own death was inevitable, she had made a peace with that. She had been too careless, too quick to feel instead of think. If she had been wise she would have kept her distance, she wouldn't have become their friend, but that wasn't who she was, even if that is who she wished she could be.

Solas had told her, not long ago, to harden her heart in preparation for this day, but now that it had come, she knew she had failed to do so. The bitterness he had awakened in her wouldn’t leave so easily, but the truth was that “emotional entanglements,” as he had called them, were all that kept her going in these final hours, and all she desired.

Finding herself once again at the door overlooking the garden, she knew she could not walk away this time. There was a light under the door, a flickering that came in starts, she was sure every other time she had passed by the room had been as dark as all the others. Ashling reached out to open the latch, gently pushed the door, careful not to allow the hinges to squeak, and closed it tightly behind her, relaxing her body against the heavy wooden slats and releasing her breath at last.

Unaware of her presence, sitting with his back to the door, small bursts of magic were illuminating the room at irregular intervals. He seemed to be speaking quietly to himself in the language of their people, but from what she could hear, they were primarily words she did not recognize.

“Solas?” Her voice wavered.

“Inquisitor!” His surprise was apparent, as he moved to stand so quickly the force of it threw his chair to the floor and the light of the magic was extinguished, leaving them in utter darkness for a moment.

The greenish tinge of the veilfire came to life in the grate between them, casting a pale shade over his skin, already ashen from the shock he had received.

“I know what you said to me that night in Crestwood, but I also know that I might not have anything beyond this night,”

She was convinced at the sight of him, that she had made the right choice in opening this door. Ashling allowed the blanket to drop, exposing herself, clad in just the thin cotton shift she used for sleeping. “I know you will protest, I know you will tell me- with good cause- that I deviate from this, that nothing good can come of this. But I can’t walk away as easily as you would have me believe.”

“Please.” His hands rising as his voice broke with the effort to stay calm.

She moved closer then, two small steps as he took two back, trying to keep the distance between them.

“Tell me you don’t care. Tell me you don’t believe in me.”

“I can’t.” His backward motion was stopped by the desk behind him and he splayed his fingers as if he could somehow will the wall itself to move.

“I don’t need forever. I don’t need who you were, or what you think you are protecting me from. I need you, Solas, I need now. If nothing else, allow me to have this one night.”

She could see the hurt in his eyes and she wanted nothing more than to understand it. She had tried so hard to make him see that she would be there for him, to help him, just as he had helped her. That night he had taken her vallaslin she had thought was the time. This night could be. She wanted to know him, she wanted to see him, as she knew he saw her. She thought she understood, but now it seemed, there was no way to show him how bare she was. How raw she had become.

A part of her was stirred to anger, anger with herself for thinking she would be enough, that this would be enough to make him change his mind. Angry with herself for wanting to change his mind, for not letting him go. Ashling cursed herself for being so weak and for allowing this to break her at such a time she needed all of her strength.

“You know I can’t do that.” his words were just whispers.

Angry tears prickled at her eyes but she refused to cry. Steeling herself she turned from him and walked quickly to retrieve the blanket she had dropped. Gathering it up around her she looked back over her shoulder one last time before the tears could escape.

“No, I don’t suppose you can.” Her intention was to cut him with her words, to make them bite against his flesh, but they faltered as a sob escaped her throat.

Her hand had only just found the latch when she felt his fingers around her wrist.

“Vhenan, you know…”

His mouth was silenced with hers. Her hands desperate to hold him before he could slip away again. Gripping his ears, sliding her fingers down to cover his cheeks, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him into her, desperate to keep the connection.

Ashling felt him pulling away again, trying to speak. She was so afraid of what he might say. Gulping in a breath to calm her sobs, she replaced her lips with her hand preventing him from saying more.

“I know that you are mine and I am yours, and that if you didn’t think so as well, you would still be calling me Inquisitor from across the room. Just hold me. Just let me be close to you. I have lost so much and I can’t make it through this without you too.”

She let her hand slip away then, moving it to rest on his chest, hopeful to feel his heart pounding the way hers was. Searching his eyes for the softness they held when used to look at her.

“Vhenan…” he whispered so low it was barely more than an exhale.

“Vhenan.” She replied, pulling his forehead down to rest on her own.

Solas’s hands found their way to her hips as she pressed her body closer to his. Snaking their way to rest on her bottom as he bent lower to press his lips delicately to hers for the briefest of moments before sighing heavily again.

She rested her head on his chest and listened to the rhythm of his heart, fast as a hummingbird, as fast as her own. The gentle hum of his voice broke her concentration as he spoke one simple word, “Stay.”


End file.
